An axially engaging and disengaging one-way clutch mechanism for a torque converter is shown in commonly assigned U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/710,828, titled “STATOR HAVING AN AXIALLY ENGAGING AND DISENGAGING ONE-WAY CLUTCH MECHANISM FOR A TORQUE CONVERTER,” inventors Brees et al., filed Aug. 24, 2005, which application is incorporated as background information by reference. The arrangement shown in the above application could be improved if parts or components could be shared between the stator and the clutch. Such sharing could reduce the parts count, complexity, and cost for the torque converter.
Thus, there is a long-felt need to combine components for a stator and a one-way clutch in a torque converter to reduce parts count, complexity, and cost for the stator and one-way clutch.